Our books

The Welcome Stranger

Frank Meeres

The ‘Strangers’ was the name given in Norwich to the many incomers to the city from Europe (especially the Low Countries and northern France) in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. At one time they
made up more than a quarter of the population. Experienced local historian Frank Meeres draws on Norfolk Record Office and other sources for this absorbing illustrated account.

Drawing on medieval chronicles, place-name studies, archaeology, local newspapers and the collections of folklorists, Francis Young offers the first detailed account of what Suffolk people believed about the ‘farisees’.

The author draws on her translations of local manorial documents to create a remarkable picture of ordinary people and the life of the town of Hadleigh, particularly during the high medieval period, from the mid-13th century to the second half of the 14th century.

To accompany a major study of Norwich's surviving and lost medieval churches, local architect David Luckhurst has painted the 31 surviving churches (plus the tower of the bombed St Benedict). Reproductions of his paintings are accompanied by his handwritten notes on the street scenes, and by a specially drawn map.

A geologist’s look at the past, present and future of a city, and how its geology has shaped it, this exceptional book provides an unique insight into Norwich that should absorb all those who love the city. Profusely illustrated with maps, diagrams and many photographs, mostly in colour.

Edmund was prominent among the royal saints from the Anglo-Saxon period, and for several centuries was effectively the patron saint of England. But how did the sparse facts of his life transmute into the cult of the saint - and how did the Vikings, at whose hands he died, and who later promoted the cult, affect that process? Joseph Mason draws on unconventional as well as conventional sources to offer new insights into Viking movements, Edmund's life and death, and the development of his cult.

Following the success of The Abbey of Bury St Edmunds, Francis Young looks at the folklore of Peterborough, unjustly neglected because of its geographic position. This is the first authoritative survey of the topic. It features holy wells, unofficial folk saints, colourful local festivals, unquiet revenants, ghost-hunting vicars, the ever-present fear of witchcraft – and much more.

In September 1908 Maida Hunter sailed with her doctor husband Charles to Bonthe, a small town on an island off the coast of Sierra Leone. These are her letters to her family in Caernarvon, and particularly her younger sister Belle, illustrated with family photos, maps, old postcards and Maida’s own paintings from her year in Africa.

Robin Jesson recalls his days as a student at Bath Academy of Art in the 1950s, and the remarkable staff who contributed to an extraordinary training, including William Scott, Peter Lanyon and Terry Frost. Illustrated with photos of the time.

This authoritative book draws on a wide range of sources to explore the history and significance of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds, from the background to its foundation in the 11th century, through its days as one of the great religious establishments of Medieval England, to its dissolution and the fate of its monks, its lands and its buildings up to the present day. With more than 30 illustrations (some in colour), full timeline, lists of abbots, priors and sacrists, and a full walk-through the abbey buildings as they would have been in its glory days.

A biography of a contemporary of Jane Austen, based on her surviving letters and diaries. Betsy Reading married twice, had four children, and had a wide-ranging acquaintance in Norfolk, Kent and Oxfordshire. She and her family experienced elopements and court cases, a disappearance at sea, much joy and much sorrow, and the backdrop to her life was the Napoleonic Wars. Fashion drawings add much to the book's broad appeal.

Susan Curran's third medieval biography is of a much-married (but richer) contemporary of Chaucer's Wife of Bath. More is known of the husbands of Joan de la Pole - later Lady Cobham - than of Joan herself, but the marital choices she made shape an extraordinary life. Her fifth husband, Sir John Oldcastle, a friend of Henry V, a Lollard religious radical, would-be social reformer and ultimately a traitor, was one of the most remarkable men of his age; two others earned burial in Westminster Abbey. Did Joan herself wield more influence than history has credited her with?

This entertaining and authoritative series of essays on aspects of church history, with particular reference to Norwich and Norfolk, includes contributions on the representation of toothache in church glass and paintings, the role of donors, intriguing details of a huge medieval funeral, an assessment of how changes in religious practice are reflected in their architecture, church valuations, and the Roman Catholic chapels of Norwich.

Our second title for the Norwich Historic Churches Trust focuses on the redundancy process for historic churches, and on their maintenance and reuse subsequently. It draws widely on experience across Britain, with case studies of individual churches, and contributions from the major bodies involved nationwide, as well as looking in depth at Norwich's experience with its unique concentration of medieval churches.

A review of the etchings by Norwich School artists of the 19th century, looking in depth at the work of 14 artists and more briefly at the work of others, and illustrated with 60 black and white reproductions of their work. Geoffrey Searle puts the Norwich School work into national and international context, provides advice for collectors, reviews the contemporary and later critical reception of the etchings, and provides an appendix on printmaking techniques.

An illustrated biography of Canon Gilly (1789–1855), a clergyman and profilic writer best remembered for his support for the Waldensian community in Pietmont and his charitable work as prebend of Durham Cathedral and vicar of Norham, on the Scots border.

A true story of two lovers in medieval East Anglia. Why were Margery Paston's family so opposed to her marriage to the family's land agent Richard Calle that they risked gossip and scandal to prevent it - and why were Margery and Richard so determined to marry?

An illustrated biography of William de la Pole, first duke of Suffolk (1396–1450), man at arms during the 100 years war, a leading counsellor of Henry VI, and a forceful advocate for peace with France.